Horse-collar.



No. 874,629. PATENTED DEC. 24, 1907.

A J SIMMONS HORSE COLLAR.

. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 20., 1901-.

v vwenl'oz J fwammzo f ANDREW J. SIMMONS, OF FARMINGTON, MISSOURI.

HORSE-COLLAR.

L Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 24, 1907.

Application filed August 20, 1907- Sarial No. 389.409-

To all who'rn it may concern:

Be it knownthat I, ANDREW J. SIMMONS,-

citizen of the United, States, residing at after escribed and particularly pointed out Farmington, in the county of St. Francois and State of Missouri, have invented new and useful Imrovements in Horse-Collars, ofwhich the fo owing; is a specification. My invention pertains to pneumatic horsecollars, and consists in the peculiar and advanta eous, pneumatic. horse-collar hereinin the claim appended.

In the'drawings, accompanying and form ing part .of this specification: Figure 1 is a front elevation of thehorse-colla'r constitutlng the preferred embodiment of my invention. I Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken cross' wlse through the lower portion of the afterwale of the collar-and showing the inflatable pads inthe sides of said Wale in elevation.

Fi 3 is a detail section, taken in the plane in 'cated by the line 33 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an elevation of one of the inflatable pads of the collar, removed therefrom. Fig. 5 is a detail, inverted plan view of the lower end of thecollar, showing the lapped ends of the frontand rear walls of the after-Wale as open. Snmlar letters designate corresponding parts in all of the views of the drawings, re-

err ng to which: A is the fore-Wale of my novel collar, which 1s closed at the bottom of the collar and open at thetop thereof in the usual manner, and

B is-the after-Wale which is also closed at the bottom and open at the top of the collar. The conventional connection 0 illustrated or any other means compatible with the urpose of my invention may be employe for connecting the u per ends of the fore and after-wales A an B and closing the collar upon the neck of a horse.

The after-Wale B is formed by front walls a of leather and rear walls I) of leather, and the opposed outer edge ortions of said walls are-connected by laces B as shown in Fig. 1. As best shown in Fig. 5, the lower endportions a of the front walls a are lap ed as are also the lower end ortions b of the, rear walls I), and the laces are continued through the said lapped portions 0/ and b and are detachably connected together through a bow-knot c or other suitable means to detachably connect the, lapped end portions (1. together and the lap edendportions b toend portions 0/ to the end portions b". Thus it will be apparent that when the lower ends of the'laces D are disconnected and the laces are loosened to permit of movement of the lapped end portions a away from the lapped end portions 6 an opening is provided through which inflatable pads E may be inf troduced into the pockets afforded in the side portions of the after-Wale B, and through which access may be conveniently had to the inflation tubes F of said pads E to inflate or deflate the pads as necessity demands.

The pads E are shaped as shown, and are provided with reinforced edges (1 and reinforced lower ends e to better enable them to withstand the rough usage to which horsecollars are ordinarily subjected, and their inflation tubes F are provided with non-return valves and are otherwise of the conventional construction.

It will be apparent from the foregoingthat when the lapped ends a and b of the after-Wale walls are disconnected and moved away from each other, the deflated pads E may be readily introduced to position in the side portions of the after-Wale, and may then be conveniently inflated by a pump applied through the opening afforded between the lapped end portions (1' and b so as to assume the pads E will be entirely inclosed in and protected by the after-Wale, with the result that liability of the inflation tubes beinginjured and caused to leak is reduced to a nummum; and yet when it is desired during use of the collar to inflate 'thepads E, the lower portion of the after-Wale may be quickly and easily opened to afford access to the inflation tubes F.

It will be further gathered from the foregoing that when the collar is positioned on the neck of a horse access may be conveniently gained through the opening between the lapped end portionsa, and b of the afterwale walls'to the inflation tubes F, and the padsE may be inflated to a greater or less ex tent so as to nicely fit the'collar to the particular neck and render the collar easy over such sore or tender places as may be present on the neck or shoulders of the horse, and

this without the necessity of the operator reaching upward to an undue extent.

The construction herein illustrated and described-constitutes the best embodiment of my invention known to me, but it is obvious that in the future practice of the invention such changes or modifications may be made as fairly fall within the scope of my invention as defined in the claim appended.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patent, is:

A horse collar comprising a fore- Wale closed at its bottom and open at its top, an after-Wale fixed to the fore-Wale and closed. at the bottom of the collar and open at the top thereof; the said after-Wale being made up offront walls havin their lower end" portions lapped, back we s having their lower end portions lapped, and laces connecting the outer edge portions of the front and bac walls together and also'connectiug the lower erases lapped end portions of the walls together anddetachably connected together at their lower ends, whereby when the laces are disconnected and loosened an opening is afiorded between the lapped lower end portions of the front walls and the corresponding end portions of the back walls, and inflatable pads positioned in the side portions of the after-Wale; the. said inflatable pads being provided at their lower ends with inflation tubes arranged entirely within the after-Wale and located adjacent to the said opening in the lower portion of the after-Wale to permitof access being gained to the tubes through the opening.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set v L. P. BRYANT, Jr., GEO. W. KENDALL.- 

